MAKE UP FOR EVER Artisan Brush Collection – a look at 15 of the new brushes
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An Inspiring Collection from the Beauty Masters
Every great work of art starts with the stroke of a brush. It then makes sense that great art is created with great brushes, each crafted for a specific purpose by the artists who use them. The Renaissance Masters made their own tools, just like the Modern Day Masters at MAKE UP FOR EVERare making theirs. Now, MUFE is seeking to make a master out of you with their Artisan Brush Collection, and your face is the canvas.
The combined terms makeup + artist have a literal manifestation in MUFE’s Artistic Director, Dany Sanz, whose roots as a painter and sculptor bring her artist’s passion to the makeup world. Ms. Sanz has created an astounding seventy-six innovative brushes for the Artisan Brush Collection.
All brushes in the Artisan Brush Collection are hand crafted with synthetic fibers. Each fiber is made with a special technology that creates different diameters and types of fiber (straight or wavy) while still feeling soft and like natural hair. These fibers are each placed and bound in a gunmetal ring and do not shed.
Love the beech wood handles that have a weathered look, like they’ve been in an artist’s tool kit for years!
Straight fibers are used for heavier and precise applications, while wavy ones are used for a lighter, more carefree application. Some brushes use a combination of the two for ultimate artistic creativity, juxtaposing the precise with the unbridled. Each brush is meticulously made and comes with a tapered beech wood handle with a beveled tip designed to help retrieve product and place false eyelashes. How’s that for multi-tasking?
Each brush is assigned a number with anything in the 100s being for complexion, 200s for eyes, 300s for lips, and 400s for artistic purposes specifically for professionals. WHT received a generous supply of these extraordinarily well-crafted brushes so let’s take closer look!
100 Series Brushes – Complexion
140, 146, 148, 160, 174
#140 Highlighter Brush, Small ($34) – Wavy fiber for highlighting brow and cheekbones. (Light as a feather, I love using this with loose mineral pigments.)
#146 Flat Blush Brush ($37) – Straight and wavy fiber for precise powder application.
#148 Blending Blush Brush ($37) – Straight and wavy fiber for a light finish.
#160 Blush Brush ($44) – Straight and wavy fiber in a tapered, pointy-tipped brush to blend, lift or create designs on the face and body.
#174 Concealer Brush, small ($21) – Straight fiber firm, flat fiber for applying and blending concealer.
200 Series Brushes – Eyes
216, 222, 224, 228, 230, 250, 272
#216 Precision Blender Brush, medium ($25) – Straight fiber, rounded brush for smudging and blending in the crease of the eye. (The dense, compact, rounded head of this brush picks up an enormous amount of product and blends it with precision in the crease of the eye. The density of the bristles keeps the product on the brush and where you want it, not on your cheeks below.)
#222 Sponge Applicator ($13) – Oval-shaped sponge that applies pigment with no fallout. Refillable.
#224 Silicone Applicator ($16) – Flat, pointed applicator for collecting and applying shimmery powders and glitter precisely and without fallout.
A closer look at the tip of #224
And look how nicely it deposits glittery color!
#228 Precision Shader Brush, medium ($25) – Straight fiber, dense, rounded paddle-shaped brush for applying, blending and smudging any eye product.
#230 Shader Brush, large ($31) – Straight fiber, large, flat, tapered brush for lightly applying, blending and smudging eye products.
#250 Extra Fine Eyeliner Brush ($18) – Straight fiber with firm, fine bristles for controlled, precision eyeliner application.
#272 Eyelash Brush ($12) – Spiral brush for styling eyebrows and separating lashes.
300 and 400 Series Brushes – Lips and Artistic
300, 304, 402
#300 Lip Brush ($21) – Straight fiber, flat rectangular head for shaping and filling lips.
#304 Lip Brush with Cap ($25) – Straight fiber, retractable brush for purse or travel.
Most artists I know repurpose so, coming from someone who uses Home Depot as an art supply store, it should not surprise you that I did not use my favorite brush for its intended purpose. The #300 Lip Brush is intended to precisely define lip shape and blend lip pencils. I, however, found this to be the perfect brush for my gel eyeliner. Most eyeliner brushes are small and precise, great for thin lines or wispy “sketching” but not so great for a thick, bold line on the upper lid. This smallish brush makes a perfect bold line. I’ll bet it will be great for lips, too, though.
#304 ready for travel!
and ready for use
#402 Artistic Fan Brush ($20) – Straight fiber, pre-cut, fan-shaped brush with 8 sections to create multi-line effects.
A closer look at #402
Whew. That’s a lot of brushes – and there’s plenty more where these came from! Stop by MAKE UP FOR EVER at Sephora and check them all out in their glorious detail! The Artisan Brush Collection has definitely fired up my creative juices in a masterful way. You could be next.
we heartsters – Do the right brushes make an artist out of you?
photos: we heart this
Sherri is co-author of What Would You Do With This Room?
@sherrishera — Great review. I am a sucker for a good makeup brush. I feel like the proper tools make the job A LOT easier. I have never tried Makeup forever brushes before. But, I am going to check them out. The question is which one do I want to try first?
Well, if you’d like a brush a little different than most in your collection and one that you’re also likely to use a lot, I’d suggest #222. This bush holds a lot of pigment, deposits it accurately (with minimal fallout) and then seals the deal by blending impeccably. I don’t know how I did my eyes before it!
On the other hand, I’m still trying to figure out that fan brush (#402) from the pro/artist collection. In theory it seems so cool but in practice it doesn’t pick up cream or gel products (nor powders, but they’re not one of the recommended products to use with this brush). I was looking forward to playing with some funky looks but so far this one hasn’t gotten much play from me.
Wow, these look so nice. I want all of them!
I love new brushes! I’ve been having a wee too much fun ever since getting the two basic sets from Real Techniques (as in, WAY TOO MUCH FUN), but no eyeliner brush yet matches my favorite brush for lining my eyes with cream or gel eyeliner–a really thin, short bristled detail paint brush made for acrylic painting. I actually use my eyeliner brush from Smashbox for detail work on my eyebrows (because I have such PITA eyebrows) and my other thin eyeliner brush from RT for sweeping color on my lower lash line or detail work for my more crazy looks.
Yep, I mix and match!
@sherrishera I’d end up using the #402 for my more creative looks. It would be an awesome brush for creating glitter trails, dots, blood trails, tear stains, flames, leaf-y sort of looks. Oh dear lord, someone turn off my imagination now. I don’t even OWN the brush. Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!!!!
You could even use it on nail looks and use it to dust on glitter from overhead….STOP IT BRAIN!
Yeah, but the problem with that pesky #402 is that it’s not quite stiff enough to do most of those things…too fluffy for the detail. It seems like it would be perfect for a liquid but I don’t really have much by way of pure liquid makeup other than my Lip Tars and some eyeliners that are, of course, bottled in such a way that it doesn’t allow this brush access. Oh well, striped lips anyone?
@sherrishera I tend to notice I need a little bounce in mine. I don’t like super stiff brushes (unless it’s brow brushes, then I like stiff.) I’d obviously need to get my hands on it to see what you truly mean, but I don’t generally like a lot of stiffness out of personal style. Too stiff can really hurt my super delicate skin and it can ruin a look. I also tend to press harder with stiffer bristles when a little bounce can really make it work well for me. Of course, you are talking to someone who cut up her own paintbrushes to get something I needed, so I may not be exactly the right person here!
Being the blush whore that I am, I would love to try #160. I can never have too many blush brushes. That’s what I tell myself, anyways. :)
Those are BEAUTIFUL brushes. I’d almost be afraid to use them!
These brushes knock my current ones out the water. I blame the beech wood handles! So cool looking.
Trying to pick which brushes to keep for review was easy (I couldn’t choose wrong, every one is a winner!) and hard (I wanted them all. Every one of them.) But I realized looking at my choices now that it was all about precision for me.
And can I just say I NEVER would have guessed these are synthetic bristles? They are so soft, it’s kind of mind blowing.
Here’s what I chose…
#160 – who can resist a new blush brush? Not me, that’s for sure. This one has a bit of a pointy tip which lets you really place your product exactly where you want it. But it’s also soft enough to fluff and blend as well.
#228 – flat and medium sized, this brush allows me to use the tip to place shadow in small precise spots (under the brow, in the corner of the eye) or flat to pat shadow on. I think I’ve used it every day since I got it, it’s a workhorse!
#224 – if you are a glitter loose pigment wearer, stop right now and buy this brush. The silicone acts like a magnet, you literally can see the glitter jump to the tip. Then it transfers to your skin exactly where you place it with very little fall out or strays (like the photo shows.) It’s like magic!
#222 – sometimes, you just want a sponge tip! (Especially when you need to build up color for a pesky shade.) I love that this one is refillable.
#304 – this was my first pick, the brush that I said “oh I NEED that!” It’s the travel lip brush. You know how typical lip brushes have that little see-through plastic cap on them? And when you try to replace it after use you bend bristles, but you HAVE to use it or you’ll get lip color everywhere? This brush eliminates that! It’s got a nice wide opening to its cap so you’ll never bend bristles again. LOVE this.
These brushes are amazing. Even if you can get only one, do it. And I promise you’ll be hooked.
Oooh, so many to choose from, I need that blush brush! I have such a hard time spending money on good brushes but it makes such a difference…
I didn’t think brushes made a big difference until modeling school and modeling. They are like eating with utensils versus no utensils. The ability to blend, shade, contour, aaahhh . . . These look decadent!